1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein generally relate to image forming apparatuses to which a program licensed to a user is installed, and particularly relate to an image forming apparatus, an equipment system, a program management method, and a program which manages and controls timing for deleting an installed function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Equipment items such as a copier, a scanner, a printer, a FAX, and a multifunctional machine (also referred to as an MFP) provided with the functionalities of these are provided with an embedded information processing apparatus. The performance of a CPU usable for such an information processing apparatus has been increasing. Also, a large volume memory has become available at low price.
Further, networking has been growing as the mode of use of such equipment items. In place of storing an application in an equipment item in advance for sales, an alternative mode of sales has been becoming available in which a user purchases an application according to need, and downloads the application via a network to install the program.
The installment of an application to equipment items is managed and controlled according to whether there is a license (use authorization), thereby preventing unauthorized use. The substance of the license is a license key that is given to a user at the time of legitimate purchase of an application. The user enters the license key at the time of installment, thereby being allowed to install the application to the equipment.
Information regarding equipment items having use authorization may be registered in a license server to manage and control licenses. In such a case, a user installs an application, and, then, accesses the license server at the time of use thereby to request the license server to perform license authentication. Upon successful authentication, the user can use the application in the equipment.
In such license management, however, a target that is authenticated is only an equipment item (i.e., the serial code unique to the equipment) to which an application is installed.
In contrast, there is another type of licensing called a floating license by which the presence/absence of a license is managed and controlled by the number of installed applications. In the floating license, the maximum number of licenses is determined in advance at the time of entering into a license contract. As long as the number of applications does not exceed the maximum license number, the application can be installed to plural equipment items without limiting installment targets to specific equipment items.
Under some circumstances, it may be preferable to manage and control the license on an individual-specific basis rather than on an equipment item-specific basis or by use of a maximum license number. In an example of an image forming apparatus, such a circumstance may correspond to a case in which an individual user purchases an application (i.e., utility) made by a third-party vendor to install the application in an equipment item that the user uses in his/her office. Neither an organization nor a department has purchased the application, but an individual user has purchased and installed the application. Only this user may properly be allowed to use the application. Hereinafter, a user-specific application license is referred to as a user-linked license.
Applications that may be purchased by an individual user range from a simple calculator and various types of gadgets for providing some functions, to applications for modifying a screen, an operation flow, or the like into an individually registered unique content to provide modified appearance or better operability.
In the case of an application that requires an individual-specific license, a user may wish to use the application not only in the equipment in which the application has been installed but also in other equipment that the user may use. For example, the user may attend to work during a business trip or attend to work temporarily in a floor different from his floor. In such a case, with the license management performed on an equipment item-specific basis, the user may need to remove the corresponding function (i.e., return the license) from the equipment in which the application has been installed, and, then, newly install the application in the equipment that the user is temporarily using.